


A Mess of Endings, Beginnings, and Makeouts

by baronohm



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Ashen Romance | Auspistice, Caliginous Romance | Kismesis, F/F, F/M, Flushed Romance | Matesprits, M/M, Multi, Pale Romance | Moirallegiance, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-09
Updated: 2019-06-09
Packaged: 2020-04-23 15:32:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19153873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/baronohm/pseuds/baronohm
Summary: Jade coerces Karkat and Dave to spent a night at the beach. A potential fourth member to their mix of relationships arrives, seeking something she's lost in them.





	A Mess of Endings, Beginnings, and Makeouts

**Author's Note:**

  * For [canonlytrans](https://archiveofourown.org/users/canonlytrans/gifts).



> From Prompt 2!

Jade had finally reached a compromise with her reclusive boyfriends. The beach was, obviously, off limits during the day. Though Earth C’s sun’s spectra skewed towards less radioactive wavelengths than Alternia’s, it still pumped out enough ultraviolet to drive fear into her kismesis’ faltering heart.  
At night, however, no such solar excuse was viable. Jade had allowed Dave and Karkat no possible reproach against a night trip to the Troll Kingdom’s beach, though She knew full well that wouldn’t stop them from trying.

KARKAT: WELL EXCUSE ME FOR TRYING TO PROTECT MYSELF FROM THAT BRIGHT ASS BALL IN THE SKY!

Karkat, fully clothed, Cancer t-shirt and all, shouted from beneath the protective shade of a truly massive umbrella. He was huddled in a defensive posture, knees to his chest, eyes sharp and accusatory. There was, however, a slight levity to his shouts, and a twist in his scowl that suggested more engagement than simple anger.  
Dave, in boardshorts of his signature red, shades donned despite the darkness, sat dutifully beside his man. Their collective inactivity left Dave without more than the hint of muscle upon his skinny frame. With the blanket of shadow upon him, his fair skin almost matched Karkat’s grey.

JADE: the moon wont reflect enough of the high energy band of the suns light to hurt you karkat!! :B

Jade beckoned at the two of them from the open sands. A column of moonlight sensuously rolled across the waves behind her. That same light echoed in Jade’s wide, enthusiastic eyes. A perfectly faint breeze breathed life into her flowing sunflower dress and lifted locks of her dark wavy hair and the white flowers within.  
Dave smirked sidelong at his boyfriend. In the middle space between them, Karkat was reaching ever so subtly for contact. Dave rested his hand atop Karkat’s without warning. Karkat instinctively began to recoil, but ultimately didn’t move an inch.

DAVE: shes not wrong  
DAVE: besides you had what two moons back home and they didnt keep you from jacking up our shit on a nightly basis  
KARKAT: THOSE WERE ALTERNIAN MOONS. THIS IS AN ALIEN WORLD. IM EXERCISING CAUTION FOR THE SAKE OF MY HEALTH, ABOUT WHICH BOTH OF YOU SEEM SIGNIFICANTLY MORE BLASE!  
DAVE: blase? you sound like a bougie linguistics podcast  
KARKAT: I’VE BEEN LEARNING MORE ABOUT *YOUR* LANGUAGE  
KARKAT: ASS  
KARKAT: OF ALL PEOPLE, DAVE STRIDER SHOULD BAR HIS GAPER BEFORE ACCUSING ME OF USING UNNECESSARY WORDS

Dave chuckled, his hand still resting on Karkat’s. The beach was deserted as far as the eye could see. They’d asked for space, and been given it.

JADE: Come on!! Join me in the water!!

She asked not just to join her in space, but to share an intimate moment beneath stars as only they three could. Her snow-white doggie tail wagged with feverous glee, anticipating the moment when her lovesweet song would pry them from their shady caccoon. She lifted, or rather her powers lifted, her dress up and over her head.  
Karkat, ever the Venture to her Monarch, cupped one hand around his mouth and returned fire with an enervating tirade signature of the most trollish of trolls.

KARKAT: I TOLD YOU, I-

His voice caught in his throat as her dress came free, highlighted in an iridescent green aura. She shook out her hair like a dog might shake off water, long locks of hair. Beneath her dress lay her coup de grace, a suitably green one piece swimsuit accented by a mesmerizingly generous décolletage, or deep v-neck. Jade’s light brown skin sparked with darkness and neon green as her body glowed faintly with the power of her patron sun.  
Karkat remained frozen, silent, disarmed by his kismesis’ bold strike. His eyes’ trembled with a mental intensity. Dave relaxed further into his boyfriend’s grip, taken in an entirely different, utterly positive, direction by his girlfriend’s attire.

DAVE: you look gor-  
KARKAT: WHAT A TERRIBLE, CULTURALLY-INSENSITIVE INSULT! 

Karkat sprang to his feet with such sound and fury that he nearly threw Dave forward. He took off in a run, or more accurately a series of hops as his squat legs began to sink into the sand. He had not the luxury of god-tier levitation. Jade’s dress floated past him and completed its lazy journey in a neat puddle besides Dave.

KARKAT: FORGET THE DAMN MOON WHAT I CAN BARELY STAND TO LOOK AT IS YOU!! KANAYA SPARKLES *LESS* THAN THIS AND SHE CAN’T HELP IT. AND WHAT DO YOU THINK MIXING BRIGHT GREENS WITH YOUR SKIN IS GOING TO LOOK LIKE? EVEN I KNOW YOU DON’T MATCH BRIGHT TONES AND I’M FUCKING GREY!! BRIGHT GREENS BY THE WAY THAT ARE THE COLORS OF MY LOST LIME BLOODED BRETHREN AND NOT FODDER FOR YOUR- YOUR HUMAN DISPLAYS!!

Jade grinned from the edge of the water, hands clasped at the small of her back. Karkat jabbed his fingers at her accusatorially, before dropping to clasp his knees and catch his breath.  
Jade leaned forward and pecked a kiss onto his forehead. Her particular journey through this blackrom had been a rocky one, with many a steamy moment diffused by the very necessary need to confirm that human-level safety and consent were present despite the anger, misdirection, and goading that were shot across their battlefield. Jade was, however, adapting quickly and learning what the right kind of rise out of Karkat was.

JADE: i love you too

Karkat’s temperature rose, his fuming anger mixing with a bright cherry-red blush. His mouth worked furiously though no sound came out. He was, perhaps, magnifying his hyperbolic rage for her benefit. It was, though, also possible that this was completely genuine. We’ve all spent years with him, so, ya know. 

DAVE: you ok?

Dave called from the threshold between sand and towel. Jade filled the space between herself and Karkat quickly, bearing her canines and taking another step forward in their alien hatelovers dance.

JADE: i know someone spent 55% of their online time searching human swimwear after i proposed this trip  
JADE: 70% of that was for my body type  
JADE: i figured id wear it as a gift  
KARKAT: OK, FIRST OF ALL, THANKS FOR VIOLATING MY PRIVACY. SECONDLY, AGAIN, THIS COLOR IS OFFENSIVE  
DAVE: it looks amazing  
DAVE: though were gonna have to talk about you monitoring his search history later, seriously we dont need an inhouse zuckerberg  
JADE: thank you dave  
JADE: im glad you appreciate it  
KARKAT: PLEASE I COULD DO FAR BETTER THAN THIS GARRISH MESS OF FABRIC 

Karkat was literally fogging her glasses at this proximity. Jade’s grin widened, her tail swishing back and forth so excitedly you could hear the air it batted about.

JADE: you haaaaate it dont you >:B

Karkat bared his teeth in rage. Jade had deliberately picked every fashion faux paux he’d given reasonable and articulate arguments about online and combined them with a color she could both rock and bother him with. But the worst part, oh, the worst part was that she looked stunning in it. She threw every conceivable law of troll fashion out the window and she WORKED IT. Nevermind that she was human and therefore to be forgiven for such indiscretions. The point was that the cat and mouse game between them had shifted quite abruptly and she was the dog staring Karkat down, waiting for his next move.  
Karkat squeezed his eyes shut, feeling nothing short of boiling arousal arc across of every troll neuron in his think pan. Her grinning face and lime mess bubbled and frothed, a chemistry as dark as pitch titrated into its purest form in his heart. He wanted to bite her. He wanted to rip the swimsuit off her, push her into the water, wrap his arms around her, and kiss that mocking face.  
His eyes popped open and he glared at her, gripping her hips to pull her forward while she just waited, mockingly smiling, daring him to make the next step. 

TEREZI: 4R3 YOU L1T3R4LLY GO1NG TO W41T FOR TH3 SUN TO COM3 UP B3FOR3 YOU K1SS H3R?

Jade pulled away with a mischievous giggle. The perfectly timed interruption would’ve left Karkat with the blackest of bulges but he too snapped out of their adversarial ritual when his ex and longtime friend appeared in the flesh for the first time in a sweep. He knew she was around, had spoken to her, and even approved of Jade’s new potential relationship as per the rules of their polyamorous coupling.  
But nothing, nothing, had prepared him to see the Terezi that’d once formed a pillar of familiarity and comfort in his life and, in a way, barely recognize her.  
Terezi meandered her way towards them, cloaked in an oversized red dragon hoodie that dropped halfway to her knees. 

DAVE: about time 

Dave, proud of his garbage pun, wore the smarmiest smirk in Earth C history. Terezi audibly groaned in response, but made no effort to hide her amusement. She missed these dorks, for a multitude of reasons.

TEREZI: H3Y  
JADE: hey yourself :B  
TEREZI: D4V3, K4RK4T, 1M ST34L1NG YOUR G1RL, TH4T COOL?  
DAVE: cool, bring her back in one piece  
JADE: were gonna go talk for a bit  
KARKAT: WHAT?!?

The trio swiveled to center their eyes on the exasperated troll. He sputtered half-words and inaudible nothings for a moment, before finally muttering:

KARKAT: IM GLAD YOURE BACK  
KARKAT: AND YOU  
KARKAT: FOLLOW OUR RULES 

Karkat jabbed a finger accusatory at Jade. In return, she pecked a kiss onto Karkat’s cheek and whispered something intimate, eliciting a growl from him, before floating lazily past them and towards the waiting teal-blooded troll. Dave bumped her fist as she sailed by and winked at his witchy girlfriend, not that she could see it through his impenetrable shades.  
The two girls set off across the beach, leaving Dave and Karkat to their own devices. Karkat’s eyes were glued to the horizon.

KARKAT: TEREZI IS-  
DAVE: so you’ve probably got the titanic of speedos under there  
DAVE: call the lifeguard because our ships are gonna be sinking on the iceberg

Dave walked the tightest of ropes with the ease that only an experienced, and most importantly a previously failed, juggler of personalities could (and his penchant for timeliness was no small contributor). Despite his active sexual relationship with the two of them, Dave served an active auspistice role between Jade and Karkat. The witch had perhaps thrown herself too far into the perfection of kismesissitude and this confluence of events was too much for Karkat. But, one (deliberately?) shitty come-on, and the hate-shocked troll was back.

KARKAT: THAT WAS THE WORST INNUENDO IVE EVER HEARD

Dave grinned. This was the game they played. A race to the bottom was double entendre for a fight for the top, in more ways than one.

DAVE: i’m sitting here on my knees, begging to see what my boy’s got waiting  
DAVE: like is that troll fashionisto knowledge gonna make me 300% gay all over again  
DAVE: take me on a goddamn trip through time with Alan Turing and Carson Kressley to discover only that the singular moment before and after which all thrist begins and ends is right here  
DAVE: show us the goods before your rabid fans start rioting  
KARKAT: OK FINE!!

Karkat, face beet red once more, threw off his shirt. In the process of his exasperated disrobing he fell into the sand, pants half off. Dark black swim tights covered his thin booty.  
Dave helped him to his feet, or rather, brought him forward to the time where he’d gotten up and deposited Karkat’s neatly folded clothing onto their chain of beach towels.  
Startled, a now shirtless Karkat moved to cover the ostentatious bulge clearly visible in his swim tights. Every muscle in his legs was highlighted by the clingy material, and small gaps in its sides left slices of his grey thighs completely visible. He was still partially aroused from Jade’s provocation or becoming excited due to Dave. As was so often the case for Karkat, it was complicated. 

DAVE: ok ok good start  
DAVE: but i mean come on  
KARKAT: COME ON WHAT?!

Dave barely suppressed a short of half-sneeze, half-laugh.

KARKAT: UNLIKE HARLEY'S SORRY DISPLAY, THIS IS THE PINNACLE OF FASHION. UNDERSTATED. FUNCTIONAL. PERSONAL. THE PINNACLE.  
DAVE: and where do i stand in all this?  
KARKAT: YOU LOOK GREAT  
KARKAT: I MEAN…

Once again, Karkat locked up, for entirely different reasons this time. With the perfect timing typical of the temporally attuned, Dave pulled his shorter partner close & sank into his lips. I mean really devoured the suckers. He was tilting Karkat’s chin at just the right angle so he could really GET IN THERE.  
In some distant universe, Turing & Kressley are weeping with joy.  
After they parted, Karkat clung to Dave’s arms, listing forward into him in a daze.  
Dave flash-stepped the two of tem back beneath the umbrella & laid his love-paralyzed troll boy down on their patchwork quilt of adjacent towels.  
A makeout session for the ages ensured. We’ll be back shortly, don’t you worry. 

\---

The third component of this happy couple was currently wandering the sands with the troll that’d danced the same lines between the two men as her, albeit in another timeline. The two of them had bonded over this, Jade first initiating contact to ask for advice on the darkest quadrant and to check in on their elusive kingdom co-founder. Things had not turned out as either of them had expected.  
After two dates and many long, thoughtful conversations within which they’d poured over the absurdity of their lives and tried to make sense of the trainwreck that even the one timeline they’d experienced had been, here they were. There was one more very personal decision that needed to be made, a question of immense gravitas about which many of our lives have once revolved.  
Should she (& I) run after the one who got away?

TEREZI: M4YB3 *NOTH1NG* C4N F1LL TH4T M1SS1NG P13C3.

Jade whimpered softly in sympathy, her ears and tail drooping in tandem.

JADE: i understand  
JADE: some people hold a special place in our hearts and when you lose them, they don’t just get replaced by someone new  
JADE: people tell us to move on, find another  
JADE: but we cant really ever do that  
JADE: that sense of loss always remains  
TEREZI: Y34H  
TEREZI: SUCKS DO3SN’T 1T

Jade hopped into the air, hovering mere inches off the ground, her brow furrowed in concentration. She floated alongside Terezi in silence, her mouth working silently as she considered a dozen consolations, and equations, that might solve this personal dilemma. 

JADE: im not here to replace vriska, nor to offer dave or karkat to fill that void  
JADE: your relationship with her was special and your relationships with them, past or future, are also special  
JADE: but i think  
JADE: ours can be *special* too :B  
TEREZI: MAYB3  
TEREZI: MAYB3 H4RL3Y  
TEREZI: ITS C3RT4NLY B33N FUN SO F4R

Terezi had been with Karkat, both in this timeline and in others. In others, she had been with Dave and, very disappointingly, with Gamzee. As a Seer of Mind, she knew this. She was a superposition of memories from all the Terezis that had experienced all these things.  
But Jade? From all perspectives available to her, Jade was new. They’d barely ever spoken before Earth C, but Jade had been the one to call when Terezi had vanished from the public eye. Hundreds upon hundreds of messages later, here Jade was.

TEREZI: IV3 JUST B33N DRIFTING SINCE W3 WON  
TEREZI: UNSUR3 OF 4NYTHING BUT THIS POW3RFUL F33LING TH4T VRISK4 WH4TS MISSING  
TEREZI: ITS LIK3 IV3 F4LL3N FOR TH4T STUPID HUM4N SOULBOND THING  
TEREZI: H4H4H4 

There was sorrow written on her face, pain, loss, helplessness, as she looked at Jade. The Witch of Space gingerly returned herself to the ground before Terezi and took the girl’s hands in hers.

JADE: im not going to stop you if you want to go look for her  
JADE: if im not what you want thats ok  
JADE: and i cant promise you we can move past this together  
JADE: but i know we have something  
JADE: and id very much love if you stayed  
JADE: and especially so if you stayed with me 

Terezi had seen herself reunite tearfully with a departed version of her old flame, after killing her in a fit of fear to save all of them from certain death. Vriska’s light was a beacon calling her home, but one that existed now only in her mind. Moirails need not become matesprits and there was no guarantee the bold thief’s light even still burned out there at the edge of reality and the confluence of canon. It might though. And that might was what kept Terezi paralyzed.  
But she’d been here before too. Lost, searching, depressed, alone. Anyone with love eventually loses it. Broken hearts are something we all must experience. There is comfort in what we had, even when what we had has long since passed. Look Vriska is my favorite too but, maybe, just maybe, we all just need to move on.

TEREZI: (C4N YOU STOP FOR 4 S3COND SO 1 C4N R3PLY TO H3R?)

Sorry, Terezi. Go ahead.

TEREZI: 1'V3 SP3NT SO MUCH OF MY L1F3 D3VOT3D TO C3RT41N M3MOR13S OF H3R  
TEREZI: SO MUCH SO TH4T 1'V3 S3R1OUSLY CONS1D3R3D JUST G3TT1NG UP 4ND L34V1NG E4RTH C TO GO LOOK FOR VR1SK4  
TEREZI: BUT, WHY?  
TEREZI: SH3 DO3SN'T N33D MY H3LP 4ND 1 ONLY S33 TWO GOOD OUTCOM3S TO F1ND OUT TH3R3  
TEREZI: 1F SH3'S 4L1V3, 4ND SH3 C4R3S 4BOUT WH4T W3 H4D, SH3'LL COM3 B4CK  
TEREZI: 1F SH3'S D34D, F1ND1NG H3R W1LL ONLY G1V3 M3 4 CORPS3 TO BURY  
TEREZI: 4ND CLOSUR3’S FOR IDIOTS 4ND DR34M3RS  
TEREZI: 1TS T1M3 FOR M3 TO STOP L1V1NG 1N TH3 P4STS  
TEREZI: 3SP3C14LLY WH3N 1 H4V3 4 FUTUR3 RIGHT IN FRONT OF M3 

Jade sniffed loudly, holding back happy tears that were beginning to flow. 

JADE: YES!!

The spacey witch clicked her heels and leapt ten feet into the air. Her enthusiasm was refreshing and genuine. It was the giddy euphoria of finding, after sweeps ground down Terezi’s hopes and happiness with the blunt edge of simple, depressing experience, a witch with which to strike sparks. 

JADE: i’m so glad to hear that!!  
JADE: let’s go tell the boys!!  
TEREZI: NOT Y3T

An impish grin spread across the troll woman’s face. 

TEREZI: 1TS TR4D1T1ON4L FOR M4T3SPR1TS TO CH3M1C4LLY BOND 4S SOON 4S POSS1BL3  
JADE: wait, that’s not…

Terezi raised one eyebrow as far as physically possible.

TEREZI: R34LLY, J4D3?  
TEREZI: DON’T GO D3NS3 ON M3 NOW  
JADE: OH!!  
JADE: i know just the thing!!

She proffered one hand to Terezi with a dramatic flourish. The blind troll couldn’t see it, of course, but in the unlikely case that she couldn’t sense Jade’s hand before I scribed this… well, she knows now.

JADE: mind if i lead?  
TEREZI: DO YOUR WORST

Feeling a human hand was always a little strange. It ignited dissociative memories of Dave, and one very out-there Terezi that’d dated Rose somehow. Jade’s hand was smoother than even theirs, her space powers having unburdened her of the need to touch on a daily basis. Her scent, a faint lingering of pumpkin on the air, and that alien softness so divorced from a troll’s textured body collapsed Terezi’s scattered, timeline-addled focus to here, now. Her.  
Jade wrapped one hand around Terezi’s back and lead Terezi in a shallow dip with all the theatrics of an old Earth actress. Her seductress’ breath clung in hot plumes upon the troll’s neck.  
She felt Jade move, smelled her in the salty sea air, felt her body lighten in step with her partner. Jade hovered a hair’s breadth from Terezi’s thin lips, taunting her sightless mind with the overt sensation of her intimate closeness. But it was also Jade, the temptress too impatient or perhaps too to kind to force Terezi’s move, who then pressed them into a tender caress. Terezi grabbed at her partner’s hair, pulling her ever tighter into their embrace. It was like breathing in fire, igniting her mind. She wanted desperately to have Jade ever closer, to feel nothing but her partner on every neuron that comprised her sense. Jade bit her lip, growling as a thin stream of teal blood spilled from the troll and mixed with the doggy witch’s spicy flavor. In retaliation, or perhaps arousal, Terezi bit into Jade’s neck. She felt, rather than heard, Jade’s low, threatening snarl. Terezi drank her newfound lover in, her essence foreign and familiar at once. That violent red that caused her nostrils to flare and her mouth to pant with anticipation for more even as Jade’s flavor met her tongue, it threatened to drive the mind mad. Jade tasted, smelled, felt, so damn good.  
Terezi ran her hands down the curves of Jade’s sides, letting her significant backside fit smoothly into her open palms. Jade moaned softly, her swimsuit pulled taut against her small breasts as her back arched in pleasure. 

TEREZI: D4MN H4RL3Y

One of Terezi’s coarse hands slipped beneath the waist of the suit and ruffled the teardrop of white pubic hair beneath. Jade’s hands snapped to Terezi’s wrist instinctively. Her eyes fluttered as Terezi teased the space just above the witch’s privates.

JADE: ah-  
JADE: stop teasing me

Jade mumbled, dragging her partner’s hand down into her depths. Terezi pressed a strong, rough finger down onto the suggested spot. Jade’s cry was a soft, quiet pleading sound that transfixed Terezi’s gaze onto her face: her eyes closed, her mouth wanting, her pleasure on display for an audience of one.

\--- 

DAVE: i think it’s about time i took a break

Karkat, prone and basking in the afterglow, raised his head to audibly groan.

KARKAT: NO AMOUNT OF GOOD DICKING WILL MAKE ME LAUGH AT YOUR SHITTY PUNS STRIDER

Dave, completely naked aside from those ubiquitous shades, was in the next instant completely clothed and seated upright.

DAVE: if i had known that dying to become a god of time and time-related puns accepting myself as a fully bisexual man and navigating a complex interspecies polyamorous relationship with you  
DAVE: would get you to say things like  
DAVE: good dicking  
DAVE: i wouldve done it all without a second thought  
KARKAT: DONT MAKE ME DOWNGRADE YOU TO ADEQUATE DICKING  
KARKAT: BECAUSE YOUR AFTERCARE GAME IS *LACKING*  
DAVE: you want to  
DAVE: cuddle and stuff?  
KARKAT: YES

Karkat lifted himself the short distance between them and plopped his head into Dave’s lap. It wasn’t exactly cuddling but, hell, who cares. Dave ran his hand through the now-randomized mess of Karkat’s once only barely kempt hair. His hair was heavier than say, Jade’s, had a little less silk and a little more velvet feel to it. He coiled a short-cut strand about one finger, puzzling over the strangeness of how comfortable his boyfriend was. Alien boys, huh. Not something Dave would’ve guessed he’d be into ten years ago.  
Funny how things work out for the best, even when you feel like you drove off the road years ago and have been making do crashing through the trees ever since. Maybe it’s because everything went frogs-up that he’d found himself here, on Earth C, with Karkat in his lap, and-  
Speak of the dog and she shall appear. 

DAVE: hey  
DAVE: jades back

With a yelp, Karkat popped out of Dave’s lap, narrowly avoiding slamming his head into the knight’s jaw. Karkat scrambled to find his swim tights, kicking up a small storm of sand and towel about himself as he did so.

DAVE: karkat  
DAVE: what  
DAVE: are you doing  
KARKAT: (DECORUM)

Jade, grinning ear to ear, had Terezi’s hand entwined in hers and swung it in the blatant, casual arc of two lovers unafraid of publicly expressing their partnership.

JADE: I GOT A *GIRLFRIEND*!!!!

She squealed with excitement. 

DAVE: looks like weve got more competition  
KARKAT: PLEASE  
KARKAT: AS IF TEREZI OR YOU COULD PROVIDE ANYTHING COMPARABLE TO MY VAST ROMANTIC KNOWLEDGE AND UHHH  
DAVE: dicking?  
KARKAT: UGH

The two of them arrived at the miniscule land of towels and love-making. 

JADE: guess what?!?!?!  
DAVE: what?

Jade freed her hand and swung both of them forward to present Terezi. Her tail wagged so rapidly it began to blur.

DAVE: you got a terezi  
TEREZI: SH3'S V3RY 3XC1T3D 4ND 1 C4NNOT G3T H3R TO C4LM H3R SH1T  
DAVE: did you try making out?  
TEREZI: TH4T M4D3 H3R MOR3 3XC1T3D  
JADE: hehe  
TEREZI: J4D3?  
JADE: hehehehe :B

Terezi chuckled and lowered her newfound matesprit to the ground.

TEREZI: YOU’R3 TH3 V3T3R4NS H3R3 1S TH1S NORM4L?  
DAVE: with jade?  
DAVE: sorta  
KARKAT: IVE SEEN A VERSION OF THIS BEFORE

Karkat crossed his arms and nodded sagely, a recent expert in Jade Studies sharing his wisdom. Terezi plopped onto the ground and sent a small puff of sand up about her.

TEREZI: L3TS T4LK TH3N I KNOW YOU S4ID YOU WOULD B3 OK WITH M3 4ND J4D3 BUT NOW I’D LIK3 TO CONFIRM IT  
KARKAT: YOU AND JADE ARE MATESPRITS NOW

Karkat cut in immediately, arms still crossed, face working overtime. Terezi turned to Jade. The love-struck girl remained completely oblivious.

TEREZI: Y3P  
KARKAT: SO DAVE AND JADE...  
DAVE: we dont need quadrants  
DAVE: and im fully comfortable sharing her  
DAVE: assuming you pay your dues  
TEREZI: DU3S?  
KARKAT: OH SHUT UP DAVE THIS IS SERIOUS BUSINESS  
DAVE: this boy and his romance  
KARKAT: THE IMPLICATIONS OF ANY GIVEN QUADRANT CAN SHAPE THE REST OF A TROLLS LIFE  
KARKAT: THIS IS NO LAUGHING MATTER DAVE  
DAVE: you got your shipping thirst on and no amount of words will hide that raging-  
TEREZI: UGH OK STOP  
TEREZI: L3T M3 JUST CUT THROUGH THE LO4D G4P3R R3M4INS NOW  
TEREZI: DO YOU TWO W4NT 4 P13C3 OF TH1S OR NOT?  
KARKAT: UHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

With nowhere to hide, Karkat simply locked up. His eyes defocused and he’s gone folks. Terezi took the moment, after a good, long exasperated sigh, to fill Dave in on their failed timeline tryst.

TEREZI: 1 KNOW 1TS W31RD  
TEREZI: BUT S1NC3 1M TRY1NG TH1S N3W TH1NG C4LL3D NOT B4S1NG 4LL OF MY D3C1S1ONS ON CR1PPL1NG DOUBT 4ND P4ST R3COLL3CT1ONS OF T1M3S TH4T W3R3NT  
TEREZI: YOU'R3 *CUT3* 4ND J4D3 LOV3S YOU  
TEREZI: TH4T'S 4 GOOD 3NOUGH R34SON FOR M3 TO TRY US 4G41N 

Dave nudged Karkat. The troll broke out of his reverie only to absorb all of this new information and lock up again. He pulled his tights up past his belly button and tucked his knees up to his chest. 

DAVE: first of all  
DAVE: even though ive never absorbed the memories of a tragically doomed dave talent and wit lost forever rest in peace my mes  
DAVE: ive had *some* idea of what went on between us  
DAVE: some of my mes used to brag like a thirsty ampora 

Terezi snorted. 

TEREZI: 1 C4NT B3L13V3 1 US3D TO TH1NK YOU W3R3 COOL

But her telltale smile was bright and full. Dave’s particular brand of humor hadn’t lost its charm for her. If anything, she’d missed his drawn-out, attention-seeking monologues and accompanying artwork. They’d used to scribble out the shittiest jpegs and trade them back and forth, snickering at their in-jokes and the scorching burns they delivered. Or rather, another Terezi had. This one thought she might try him for herself.  
Dave had heard of his times with Terezi, vaguely, and had always found her a useful presence when younger Karkat had needed calming. She was cool, collected, honestly sort of made him jealous when he was younger. Now, older, and if not wizer at least less deafened by his own shit, he saw a woman with the same doubts and fears as he, and a wit sharper than an oiled half-blade. A companion, perhaps, given time.

DAVE: lets put this on a trial basis  
DAVE: say one date and an impromptu makeout session in the nearest poorly lit bathroom per week and see where things go  
TEREZI: YOU, THE OTHER YOU, US3D TO M1ND SH4R1NG 4 LOT. 4R3 YOUR3 OK W1TH TH1S?  
DAVE: that dave just isnt me anymore  
DAVE: he may have screwed things up with you not been down with the trollypolyquads but  
DAVE: ive had ten years a lot of dead mes my brother being my age and alive again my mom being hot and also alive one universe destroying monster and a lord english since then  
DAVE: its given me a lot to think on  
DAVE: hot takes spinning through my mind changing my priorities around  
DAVE: on top of the whole adulting thing

A big, smug warning sign of a grin began to dawn on his face. Dave had just cooked himself up another pun.

DAVE: ive got all the time in the world to try

It was a smelling salt to both the zoned out troll and the giddy witch. Karkat groaned at roughly the same volume and speed that Jade giggled.

DAVE: welcome back  
TEREZI: K4RK4T?  
KARKAT: I-  
JADE: hehe  
KARKAT: *JADE*  
KARKAT: LOOK  
KARKAT: I DONT KNOW WHAT JADE TOLD YOU ABOUT OUR ARRANGEMENT BUT YOU DONT NEED TO TICK EACH OF US OFF LIKE BLOTCHSQUARES IN TROLL BINGO  
KARKAT: MY TWO HANDS ARE FULL KEEPING THESE IDIOTS FROM A MAKING A ROMANTIC SHIPWRECK THE LIKES OF WHICH HISTORY HAS NEVER SEEN  
KARKAT: THAT SAID  
KARKAT: AND DONT GET ANY IDEAS FROM THIS  
KARKAT: YOU ARE THE LAST LIVING MEMBER OF MY SPECIES I CAN BEAR TO SPEND MORE THAN FIVE SECONDS WITH  
KARKAT: WE WILL HAVE TO COMMUNICATE TO COORDINATE OUR TIME WITH THESE TWO REGARDLESS BUT I WOULD NOT MIND SPENDING SOME TIME BETWEEN US EXCLUSIVELY  
KARKAT: NO QUADRANT IMPLIED OF COURSE

He turned to glare at Dave and Jade defensively, expecting a storm. 

DAVE: cool

Jade clapped her hands against her mouth, muffling a squeal of joy that still escaped in quieted form. Terezi plopped herself onto the ground besides Jade and sighed until her lungs were more than empty. She raised her head to regard the troll and human men, pensive, nervous tension finally releasing her from its muscle-tightening grip.

TEREZI: TH4T SOUNDS N1C3

They sat in momentary silence. While the fallout of a dozen potential disasters had been avoided, each of them worried that that two-key launch button might be hit if they made one wrong move. Don’t rock the boat. Don’t threaten the peace.  
Then, with the perfect mundane black-quadrant complaint, Karkat broke the silence with levity.

KARKAT: DOESN’T THIS INSULT TO OUR POOR CULLED BRETHREN INSULT YOU?  
TEREZI: WH4T?  
JADE: hehe  
KARKAT: HOW CAN YOU STAND JADE’S OUTFIT, TEREZI?  
KARKAT: SHE'S WEARING THE EXACT COLOR OF LIME BLOOD  
TEREZI: WH4T?

She glanced at Jade. Yep, that was an outfit, a good looking one. They all looked good. Granted, yes, Terezi realized the color of Jade’s swimsuit was as Karkat said, but literally no one in the entire Troll Kingdom would’ve cared.  
Uh oh.  
After all of this time, after what he’d just said a minute before with level-headed aplomb, was he actually the same arbitrarily incensed child she’d broken up with? Jade cut through Terezi’s thoughts as they were turning sour.

JADE: you just want me to take it off

Karkat flushed crimson once again. 

KARKAT: YOU SHOULD ITS AN AFFRONT TO OUR PEOPLE

Ah, there it was. Karkat’s inability to stand in one quadrant alone, his immaturity-induced vacillation, had been the death kneel for their relationship. Here, with a human no less, he had finally learned to lock in the blackrom in a uniquely Karkat way, and it was immediately hilarious. 

JADE: ill do it on one condition

Karkat crossed his arms.

JADE: youre going to come with me out to the water and skinny dip with me  
KARKAT: THAT'S TWO CONDITIONS

Jade found her prey backed into a corner and grinned that hungry predatory smirk that was all canine and canines.

DAVE: ill do it  
KARKAT: NO  
KARKAT: I MEAN  
KARKAT: THIS DOESN’T INVOLVE YOU  
KARKAT: ALSO, TEREZI WOULDN’T BE COMFORTABLE WITH THIS, RIGHT?  
KARKAT: SHE’S NOT HERE TO SEE YOU ALL FLASH YOUR BULGES AND NOOKS IN PUBLIC  
TEREZI: 1F YOU 4LL 4R3 F1N3 W1TH 1T  
TEREZI: THIS SOUNDS LIK3 FUN  
JADE: looks like everyone is in  
JADE: i mean only if you want this karkat

Jade slowly ran her hands down her sides, pushing her chest forward to accentuate her revealing décolletage. Dave placed a supportive hand around his boytroll’s waist.

DAVE: really though  
DAVE: if this is the uncomfortable pressure of a room full of truly horny energy and not the blackrom invite youre looking for  
DAVE: blink three times and ill bail you out  


The naughty politics at play were still, admittedly, not Dave’s forte. He was however, as he said before, learning and supportive.  
Karkat rose in silence, letting Dave’s arm fall to the floor. He walked past Jade, his tormentor, and Terezi, his witness, and out into the open air. The moonlight illuminated the shorter troll as he strolled, zombie-like in his mute determination, towards the sea.  
Terezi looked to her new partner and old friend, unsure how to act. Their dynamics were new and renewed, respectively, and she was unsure of her place. Should she mediate?  
Yes. This was not the Terezi of before. Doubt was not a trickster but a guide. Sometimes she doubted what she must do, and it so knew exactly what her role was. The Seer of Mind was still discovering new paths of power.  
She poked her head out from beneath the umbrella. 

TEREZI: K4RK4T?

The mutant troll, the water now to his feet, spun about. 

KARKAT: WHAT ARE YOU ALL WAITING FOR AN SIGNED GLITTER-STUFFED FORMAL INVITATION FROM THE CONDESCE?

And without further warning, complaint, or connection to his previous gripes, he was naked.  
Jade’s hand met Terezi’s shoulder. The teal-blooded troll found her girlfriend hand-in-hand with Dave. Moonlight once again played across Jade’s teeth, giving her wide smile an opalescent glimmer, and placed bright cheery pupils onto Dave’s concealing sunglasses. 

JADE: coming?  
TEREZI: 1N 4 MOM3NT

With a nod, Jade left her partner to the edge of their little home of towels and umbrellas. She and Dave raced towards the water, taking low flight and most definitely violating multiple physical laws in flashes of red and green. Their clothes hovered lazily past Terezi to land back in their sandless oasis.  
Then Jade was tackling Karkat, her tail sweeping water into the air, and Dave and Karkat were kissing aggressively while Jade swam about with her eyes to the sky, and Jade and Karkat wrestled each other down into the water, fighting to be the one pressing the other’s back into the sand.  
Some part of her still felt out of place, out of time. Terezi looked up to the stars, wondering one more time, where her lost moirail was. Would they see, in time, a cerulean blaze that marked her final heroic fall? Truly such a thing would overshadow the stars themselves, as she did. Or maybe, even, she would come back.  
But then her gaze returned to the earth, and the three who danced about the water free of any concern other than dousing the others most thoroughly. Doubt was a constant voice in her ears, magnified infinity by a second sight of the other options, forks in her decisions that really happened, somewhere out there. Stronger still, was the feeling of joy she’d felt when she’d made Jade dance beneath her fingers, when she’d seen the smiles her estranged partners produced when they saw her appear on the beach, when she’d walked out of her apartment in the Troll Kingdom at the behest of three friends who cared about her.  
Terezi unzipped her hoodie and let the two-piece beneath fall onto their scattered clothes. She walked towards the beach’s edge as water flew and eyes flashed and powers sparked and laughter overshadowed even the powerful music of the tides.  
She found Jade panting and splashing water at the two boys and drenched the girl with a powerful, unexpected swipe of her hands. Jade squealed and turned to her, arms ready, beaming. The boys took the opportunity to strike, and Terezi emerged from beneath the ocean a moment later, holding Jade in both arms and uncontrollably laughing.  
Terezi observed each of their faces, feeling their minds despite herself. She found her own glee, a unfamiliar sense of happiness that almost nauseated her with its alien presence, reflected back threefold.  
As she leapt back into the fray, it started to feel more like a perfect piece of clothing she’d wanted for years, something long lost and totally new. She relaxed, her mind fully engaged in the simple art of play, of friendship, of home. 

**Author's Note:**

> I absolutely loved writing this polyamorous mess for Polyswap 2019. I only wish I had known how engaged I would get and planned accordingly. Everything flew out the window, including the other prompts, while I delved into character research and writing. Oh well! It was a hell of a lot of fun and I'll write about these four again soon!!


End file.
